Ninety years ago, on July 24, 1918, Capt. Francis Michael Leahy, a Lawrence native, was killed in action at Chateau Thierry, France, during the Second Battle of the Marne.

With his dying breath, he turned over the Second Battalion, 101st Infantry, 26th Yankee Division, to the next in line with the famous words: "Lieutenant Hanson, the command is forward. See the boys through."

Barely 29 at the time of his death, Capt. Leahy became almost instantly famous. "Stars and Stripes," a service periodical, gave the story of his death front-page coverage. "Lesley's Weekly Magazine," comparable to "Time" or "Newsweek," ran a full article titled "The Command is Forward." Author Alexander Woolcott used Capt. Leahy's dying words as the title of his book about the First World War.

Leahy was born in South Lawrence on July 18, 1889. After completing eight years at Wetherbee Public School and one year at Lawrence Commercial, he enlisted in the regular Army. Serving in the Philippine campaigns, he was cited for valor and returned home with the rank of sergeant.

In 1912, he enlisted as a private in Company F, 9th Regiment, Massachusetts Militia. Within a year, he was promoted to first lieutenant and proved himself a worthy officer during the Lawrence mill strikes. Later, he excelled in command on the Mexican border. When the Massachusetts Militia was federalized and absorbed into the 101st U.S. Infantry, Capt. Leahy was given command of Company F.

Arthur A. Hansen, to whom this famous command was given, was one of Waltham's notable war heroes. Before the end of the war, he was given America's second highest decoration, the Distinguished Service Cross, and rose meteorically to a major within a year. He survived the war, became one of Waltham's most popular mayors and died of a heart attack while leading a War Bond Rally in 1942.

By the time of his first combat in France during the spring of 1918, Leahy's orders were simple: "You are to fight to a finish on your ground without giving up a single foot." During the course of the war, Company F would sustain more than 40 battle deaths, numerous wounded, while a dozen received the Distinguished Service Cross. First Sergeant Joe Casey received two Distinguished Service Crosses. Later a bridge in Lawrence was named for him.

When news of Leahy's death reached Lawrence, the mood of the city was subdued. It was as if it was a personal loss. The Tribune carried the headline: "Captain Leahy Is Killed." Word of his death was received with much the same feeling and shock as that of the death of President John Kennedy.

Leahy was more than a soldier, a legend in his own time. As a company commander, he took a bunch of high-spirited high school kids and turned them into soldiers so within a few months they could match in combat some of Germany's crack regiments: the Westphalien Guards, the Knopenhausen, and Waldersee regiments, whose service ran back to the crusades. The men of Company F faced those same Germans who had held the best of France and England at bay on the Western Front for three long years.

In 1975, the few remaining veterans of Company F were welcomed back to the Leahy School for ceremonies of rededication under the direction of Principal Joseph Twomey. Even after half a century, Leahy was still referred to as "The Captain" by those who served with him. Pat Ford, a retired policeman and probably Lawrence's last survivor, recalled: "The Captain was the best soldier I had ever met." Eddie Bigham, veteran of the Pony Squad and this writer's father, told those present, "He was a man; he was one hundred percent man." At that time, Leahy was posthumously awarded the French "Order of the Marne."

Now, 90 years after World War I and the death of Leahy, there are no living members of Company F left to recall the grand and glorious times. The last survivor, Leo Stankard, died in 1996 at the age of 100-plus years. He once said: "The only good thing to come of the war was the special comradeship of the old outfit. We were all lifelong friends."

As for Leahy, his service and valor are timeless. He was a young Lawrence man who answered the nation's call to war. He died in his country's defense, like the Roman centurion of old "with all wounds to the front." This could be his epitaph, but it is not. He said it in words greater than any we could devise: "The Command Is Forward."

A special Mass was offered on July 24, at 7 a.m. at St. Patrick's Church, in memory of Captain Leahy.

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Brad Bigham of Concord is a retired businessman and a history buff.